1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a leg unit equipped in a housing of an electric connector, and further, to a connector housing including the leg unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric connector mounted on a printed circuit board is connected, for instance, directly to another printed circuit board, to another electric connector mounted on another printed circuit board, or to a cable. For fixing an electric connector onto a printed circuit board, a leg unit formed on a housing of the electric connector is inserted into a fixing hole formed through the printed circuit board, and the leg unit is engaged at a distal end thereof to a circumferential edge of the fixing hole.
As one of such electric connectors, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-319443 has suggested an electric connector 1000, which is illustrated in FIG. 26.
The illustrated electric connector 1000 includes a housing 1001. The housing 1001 includes at opposite ends thereof a pair of contact surfaces 1002 making contact with an upper surface 1003 of a printed circuit board 1101, and a pair of engagement units 1003 in the form of a boss and formed of resin integrally with the housing 1001. The engagement unit 1003 is inserted into a fixing hole 1102 from the upper surface 1103 to a lower surface 1104, and is engaged to the lower surface 1104. The engagement unit 1003 is in the form of a boss, specifically, a substantially cylindrical projection, and is comprised of a pair of halves 1005 and 1006 formed by dividing a cylinder into two semicircular halves with a gap 1004. The half 1005 located nearer to an end of the electric connector 1000 than the half 1006 is designed at a distal end thereof with an outwardly directing hook 1007, through which the engagement unit 1003 is engaged to a circumferential edge of the fixing hole 1102.
The electric connector 1000 illustrated in FIG. 26 is accompanied with a problem that since there is a gap between an outer surface of the engagement unit 1003 and an inner surface of the fixing hole 1102, there is generated looseness in the housing 1001 in a direction in which the engagement unit 1003 is inserted into and released out of the fixing hole 1102 (that is, a thickness-wise direction of the printed circuit board 1101) and/or in a direction of a plane of the printed circuit board 1101.
The looseness generated in the housing 1001 may cause to exert a load onto a connector terminal connected to the printed circuit board 1101.